Tag Archives: D-glucosamine

Proactol Plus, now also called Proactol XS, is an over the counter weight loss supplement. It has marketed itself extensively throughout the internet and it does have its own official website. This has allowed it to include itself among the ranks of some of the top diet pills within the fat blocker category of the nonprescription diet supplement market. Though this does not necessarily mean that it has been proven to work, it does suggest that there is something about this product that is working in its favor, and that it may be worth looking into before making a purchase.

This type of product is also known as a fat binder. These pills have been made to contain ingredients that will adhere to the fat molecules found in food that has been consumed by the dieter. By bonding to them in that way, it makes the molecules too large for the body to be able to absorb them. Therefore, they remain undigested and leave the body with the rest of the waste.

The official website for Proactol Plus claims that this diet pill goes above and beyond fat binding and acts as an appetite suppressant, as well. At the time that this review was written, the claim was that these pills worked by reducing fats absorbed by the body in a method that has been “backed by over 40 studies”. That said, not one of those studies was actually identified on the website through a title, a name of the organization that conducted them, the journal in which they were published, how many participants there were, or even if placebos techniques were used. This renders the claim all but useless to someone considering this product, as those studies could have been conducted by the manufacturer, itself on tiny, non-representative groups of people.

The Proactol Plus appears to have undergone a change, over the last while. Though the original marketing for this product had discussed the merits of opuntia ficus indica as one of its ingredients, that substance doesn’t appear to be listed among the ingredients in the product, anymore. It seems that the formula is made up of chitosan (biopolymer N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and D-glucosamine) that has been extracted from aspergillus niger mycelium.

Unfortunately, according to the Mayo Clinic, that ingredient – while unlikely to be dangerous – has not been adequately studied to be able to make solid claims about its potential benefits in the form of a diet pill. This calls into question, once again, the value of the forty studies that this product mentions on its website.